The Double Life
by sabrina6
Summary: Based on something that happened to her, Hermione Granger decides to become a key player in the war against Voldemort. When she crosses over, how will she find the line between undercover and immoral? More importantly, when she finds it, will she like it?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters do not belong to me. They belong to the nice people at Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury and Scholastic. And of course J K Rowling. I don't own any of the rites and I'm not actually clear on whether or not I own the plot.

Archived: Fanfiction.Net 

Summary: Based on something that happened to her, Hermione Granger decides to become a key player in the war against Voldemort. When she crosses over, how will she find the line between undercover and immoral? More importantly, when she finds it, will she like it? HG/DM with mentions of HG/HP.

Author's note: This is rated 'R' for a reason. This story will contain adult themes and language. It is Dark and in a later chapter it will contain a torture scene – though this might change, since this is a work in progress. 

Chapter One: The decision

_I love you, you know?_

Hermione Granger figured that those were the words that had started everything. There was magic in those words, though the Muggles didn't realize it, three little words when put together could change a person's whole world. …Five words that were spoken to Harry Potter… five words that had started a chain of events.

Of course Hermione Granger hadn't said them.

No some innocent Ravenclaw had said them… God wasn't it strange that she could remember holding Harry as he mourned for her, and she could remember the words but she couldn't remember the girl's name. Though she supposed it was to be expected – many had died since her and it _was_ six years ago.

She couldn't really remember the day it had happened. It was nearing the end of her fifth year at Hogwarts and she could remember that the students had been giving Harry a hard time. She remembered that Voldemort had yet to strike or make his presence known. Every time that she and Ron had turned a corner they found themselves defending their friend, this she remembered. But the details of that day were fuzzy.  

She remembered how happy she and Ron were when Harry had found a nice girlfriend. It had been good to see him happy again and not brooding like he had been the past few months. Harry had told her once that when he spent time with her that he didn't feel like he was fighting a non-existent war by himself. 

He had said that when he was with her that the pain in his scar seemed to fade, like nothing outside of her mattered – not the war, not his dreams.

_God what was her name!_

She was a bit unclear on the details, but she remembered that afterwards Harry had told her that it was his fault. He had said that Draco Malfoy had heard her tell Harry that she loved him and he wrote to his father. The Death Eaters finally had the perfect leverage.  

They couldn't touch Harry at Hogwarts, or at his home, but if they could lure him away from those places…. The problem was they couldn't touch anyone close to Harry either. She did agree, silently, that the one mistake that Harry made was that he didn't tell the Headmaster about his relationship with the Ravenclaw girl. 

The Ravenclaw went home for Easter holidays, Hermione remembered that. She also remembered that the girl never made it back to Hogwarts.  

Harry knew that they had her the moment that it happened. Ron and he had rushed into her dorm room early in the morning, half dressed with their wands and three brooms. 

She remembered that Harry's scar was bleeding. Hermione had made a few quiet protests…. '_Do you really think that we can take on __the Death Eaters?' '__We should go for Dumbledore; he'll know what to do.' _

In the end, she couldn't recall why, she agreed to their insane plan. It was all down hill from there. Bits and Pieces of that night still haunted Hermione's dreams. If it hadn't been for Professor Snape (they were so lucky that he had followed them there) Hermione, Ron, and Harry would have all been dead. As it was – they were too late… and the Death Eaters had been expecting them. 

As Snape had pointed out, afterwards in the infirmary, they hadn't needed her to be alive when Harry got there – they only needed him to think that she was.  

That had been the first time that Hermione had seen Harry cry. 

And it had hit her too… this was a war, and there weren't any rules. It was a different kind of war – none of that, 'no cruel and unusual punishment' – it was like a free-for-all. 

She hadn't cried that night, but she had thrown up until she was dry heaving.

'The dominos had fallen from there,' Hermione thought as she rolled over in bed. 'Voldemort had long since figure out his connection to Harry, so it was impossible for the boy-who-lived to go to sleep without dreamless sleep potion until the rest of them had found a way to close the connection. Days and Days of researching alongside Dumbledore, Snape, and Ron only to arrive at the same conclusion that they had before it had started… the only way to severe the connection was to kill one of the two connected. And since killing Harry defeated the purpose….' 

Killing Voldemort had been impossible at that stage. Hermione remembered that the Ravenclaw girl's parent's had been high up in the Ministry, so when the body was delivered to her father's office a week later with the Dark Mark gouged into her skin, hell had pretty much broken loose.

The Minister was forced to admit that Voldemort was, indeed, active again. …And Voldemort… Voldemort made it clear that his time for hiding was through. He was ready to come out and play.

The residents of the Wizarding world had become more paranoid than Mad-eye Moody. The only people that hadn't changed were Ron, Harry and she. 

Though Harry grieved, and he spent much more time surrounded by his friends than he ever had, he mostly stayed the same. …Except for one tear jerking session, after a confrontation with Draco Malfoy, in which he took full responsibility for the Ravenclaw's death.

_"Hermione,"_ he had said expressionlessly, _"She told me that she loved me, and Malfoy heard. He sent a letter to his father months ago. They had this whole thing planned out for months and none of us had noticed a thing. She said, '_I love you, you know?_' and her fate was sealed, and for what? She died because she loved me… how is it that Voldemort can taint something that was so… so pure__? This can't happen again. Do you understand me? The next time that I date someone and it even looks as though they love me… it will have to be over. I'd tell you and Ron to stay away but I know that would be pointless. Besides, why should I have to be alone because of him?" He had asked fiercely, showing emotion for the first time during his speech. __"Why should I have to feel like every time I smile at someone, their in danger of being kidnapped from their house, from being murdered? No. I want you to do something for me, Hermione. I want you to make sure that Ron is safe, I know that you can handle yourself, but we both know that sometimes Ron tends to forget that he has a brain, and a good one at that." They had both shared a watery smile._

Then Harry had finally given into his grief and Hermione saw him cry for the second time. _"I just don't want anything to happen to either of you. I loved her you, you know? But if I lost you or Ron, the only thing left to keep me alive would be revenge. … Because what happened to Cho –."_

'That was it, that was her name,' Hermione thought, not feeling the slightest triumphant at her recalled memory. 'Cho Chang, Ravenclaw Seeker – girlfriend to Cedric Diggory, and then to Harry Potter – dead at seventeen… how could she forget?'

She hit the off button on her alarm and dragged herself out of bed, resoling to leave all her melancholy thoughts in her flat that day.

She had a meeting to go to, and seeing Harry and Ron again after so long was going to be hard all itself, there was no need to bring her thoughts about all the people who had died since then. 

Hermione was nineteen when her parent's died, in a car crash, on the way to one of their many dentists' conventions. She remembered that after twenty years of practice that they had been invited to speak at this one. They had been so excited, rushing around with their notes everywhere… her mother claimed that the car came out of nowhere. 

Her father was announced DOA. The doctors said that he probably hadn't felt any pain, and that due to the angle of collision, he had more likely than not died instantly. Her mother was severely injured and even after Hermione had her transferred to a Wizarding hospital, there was nothing that they could do for her. She was alive for three weeks after the accident, and Hermione had been in the room when her mother took her last breath. 

_"Hermione,"_ she had said, her voice cracking from misuse.

_"I'm here Mum, what is it?"_ She had answered, her voice shaking from withdrawn emotion.

_"I know that you didn't like fortune telling in school… but I had this dream last night… but it wasn't really a dream. Do you understand?"_

_"It's okay Mum, the doctors said that the life spell that you are under would cause you to hallucinate a bit. If it has you worried than it is probably nothing."_

Hermione's mother ignored her and she carried on,_ "The woman said that I would be leaving you soon and that I had to pass a message on first. She didn't tell me anything though, her eyes – the strangest color green I have ever seen – shone for a moment and then she showed me the message. You are going to save the world Hermione, and not just your world, mine too. The redhead showed me, baby, and I have never been more proud of you in my entire life. My girl, strongest of them all, you are going to be the one to show them. You show those Snakes –."_

Her mother never finished that sentence, but Hermione hadn't needed to be one of Trelawney's student's to crack that puzzle. The 'redhead with green eyes' was Harry's mother, and the Snakes were Voldemort and his Death Eaters. And for some strange reason, her mother seemed to think that she was going to save the world. 

That had been two years ago and three weeks ago… Hermione had come up with the perfect plan.

"Are you joking?" Harry asked completely bewildered.

"No," Hermione said firmly.

"Are you insane than, perhaps partaking in therapy?" Snape had asked, sending a vicious scowl her way.

"Look," Hermione said impatiently. "We don't have much time left. Harry had said in one of his owls that whatever they've been planning, it is going to happen soon. We don't have anyone inside, anyone close enough to Him to get us any real information."

"So your suggesting that we send you in there as a spy?" Ron asked in disbelief. "You aren't even trained to go on a mission, let alone infiltrate Voldemort's troops."

"Do you have any better ideas, Ronald? Last year they almost took over the Ministry! We have find away to end this soon." Hermione glared. 

"I am not going to allow my girlfriend –." Harry said hotly.

"Ex-girlfriend Harry," Hermione interrupted. "And if you don't agree to it, then I'll do it on my on terms."

"Why even come to us then, you silly little girl, why don't you just go off on your own?" Snape snarled.

"I thought that I would do this the correct way. I'll need training, and while I have most of it planned out I am going to need to learn more Dark Magic than I already do. I am going to need Hogwarts restricted section for that."

"Hogwarts doesn't have any Dark books in the restricted section." Harry said.

"Not that restricted section." At Harry and Ron's blank looks she elaborated. "That restricted section is quite easy to get through. The restricted section that I am talking about is under lock and key."

"Hermione is quite right." Dumbledore said heavily. The four occupants of his office turned to look at him; he had been surprisingly closemouthed until then. "We do have a separate restricted section, though how she knows this I would rather not know. We are also pulling at strings regarding what our enemies have been up to in the past year. It is fast approaching the month of July and it would be the perfect time for her training to start."

Ron and Harry stared at the Headmaster in shock, while Hermione allowed herself a moment of victory.

Dumbledore than turned to address Ron, "I am sure that you can round up the old crowd and get them here to help with her training for the month – you can tell those on assignment that they may take temporary leave."

Ron nodded and exchanged a glance with Harry. 

"That is all well, but I believe that the four of you are forgetting one very important detail." Snape said. "Hermione Granger is a Mudblood, and Voldemort's beliefs do not extend to allowing her kind to work for him."

Ron's jaw clenched and Hermione knew that if they were in front of anyone other than the Headmaster that he would have cursed Snape to next Tuesday for that comment.

"You will watch your language in front of me." Dumbledore said firmly. Then he turned to Hermione, "Despite my colleague's use of _slang_, he is correct about your background."

Hermione allowed herself a smirk. "I may be a Muggle-born, but I am a Muggle-born with very useful information about Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore."

"You aren't actually thinking of telling them our secrets?" Ron said exasperated.

"Of course I am," Hermione said. "If that's what gets me an audience with the big guys." 

"They'll just torture you for the information, and kill you when it's through." Snape protested.

"Not if they need me and not if I prove to them that I am not just some little girl trying to get on the inside."

"…And how do you propose to do that?" Snape asked.

"I have a plan, but I'm going to need your help…." Hermione said looking each of them in the eyes. The she stood and began to pace the length of the room. "It isn't going to be easy, and it will take a long time, but I think that I know how to worm my way into the inner circle. For it to work I am going to need to know a lot about the Dark Arts, and I'm not talking about the stuff they teach you in DADA. I'll need to know more than the unforgiveables, and I need to work on my reflexes. That is where Snape comes in; he worked as a double agent for years. I also need to be versed in the enchanted sword – I've seen them use it more than once, it seems to be their one advantage of us."

"It is an advantage because we don't have any, and we don't know how they work, Hermione." Harry said slowly.

Hermione pulled something out of her pocket and then used her wand to enlarge it. Four astonished faces stared transfixed at the two gleaming swords before them. Hermione smiled, "I 'rescued' them last year before the Death Eaters vanished from the ministry than I ran with them to my apartment – it's only four block away from there. I've been researching them ever since."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Harry demanded.

"And hand these over to someone else? I got them and I was going to figure out what made them tick, and I did Harry. It was so simple, you see, once I had figured out that we were looking in the wrong place. All those months of research when the swords made their fist appearance in Diagon Alley… we kept asking, what kind of Dark magic could do that? When we came up empty on that end we started asking, what kind of Light magic could do that? We were wrong – it wasn't light or dark, it was Goblin. I came across it by accident too. I was reading an auto biography on Elfric the Eager, the elf who had planted that book of maps and plans that had supposedly been written by a head Ministry official. Once you got passed the self incited praise, it was actually quite a read – to think that a whole Goblin rebellion had been started over a few drawings and plans written by an elf! We'll he included the names of the Goblins whose camp he had left the book in and I read up on them and it turns out that the sword was first introduced in the Goblin Rebellion of 1600, in a much simpler form, of course. What Voldemort has done, is add human Magic to it, both Light and Dark, and in doing so he has given away one of his most useful powers. You see, we aren't just dealing with a deranged Wizard anymore…."

"We're dealing with a deranged Mage." Harry said faintly.

Hermione nodded gravely. "One who is fairly well versed in Goblin Magic, and let me tell you something – Goblin Magic is hard to learn, it took me at least three months to figure out what the foreign magic was and then at least another five to learn the magic well enough to tinker with it and – what?" Hermione asked confused at the response that she had gotten.

"It takes the average Goblin five months to learn the basics of their magic." Dumbledore said in awe.

Hermione smiled in agreement and sat back down in her chair, tired of pacing. She leaned forward, "And it's no wonder… hardly any of it is written down, at least in English, and after a while I got sick of translating so I decided to learn the language – which was much harder to learn than French…."

"You learned Goblin?" Ron asked in astonishment.

Snape stood abruptly. "Well congratulations, I do believe that you are the only remaining human to understand that language."

Hermione's eyes widened, "But Voldemort….."

"Does not need to understand the language to perform the magic, Hermione, He just has to _know it. As I was saying before, it takes the average Goblin five months to learn the basics of their magic; it takes the average human five years."_

The headmaster's words were met with a heavy silence. Snape had moved to the window and was staring out into the grounds below, Ron was alternating between staring at Hermione as though she was something he had never seen before and staring at the Headmaster waiting for him to say something else, Harry was shaking his head in incredulity and looked as though he were tying to burn a whole in the carpet with the weight of his stare, and Dumbledore appeared to be looking for something on his desk.

"Maybe I'm half-Goblin?" Hermione suggested when the silence had gotten to her.

Snape turned around and raised in eyebrow, "Are one of your parent's Goblins?"

"Well – no but…."

"Than I'm afraid that you can't be a half-Goblin, Miss Granger…."

"Aha!" Dumbledore called and he pulled out a small package. He flipped the lid open and held it out toward Hermione. "Lemon drops," Dumbledore said brightly. "I find that when I am in the middle of a problem that lemon drops is a fine way to clear one's head."

Hermione looked dubious but she reached forward and selected one of the candies. She popped one in her mouth and swirled it around her tongue, once it was gone she did feel like her thoughts were clearer. It didn't seem right at all – she had tasted these candies in the Muggle world before and it had never caused her to feel like this before… it was almost like – magic. "…Wit Sharpening Potion, Albus?"

Snape's gaze snapped to the Headmaster. "That is why you always carry those infernal _things around!"_

"One never knows when one might have need of a sugar craving, Severus." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling briefly.

"I need to go back to my flat to get my things…." Hermione said, suddenly. 

"…Too risky," Harry said. "I'll make a few phone calls and have some things provided for you. You will need a completely knew wardrobe, you can go to Gladrags in Hogsmeade for that. I'll have plenty of more things for you to tinker with by the end of the day." Harry said standing. He walked toward Hermione and gave her a brief, but intimate, hug before rushing out the door to speak with his contacts. 

Ron rose from his chair and walked over to her. "We did miss you, Hermione. I feel horrible cutting this short but I promise that I will be back before July 1st. Until then you had better be prepared because I've seen Harry in what he likes to call 'a training session' and he doesn't hold back – not even for friends." He held out his hand and Hermione pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"It is going to be hard, doing this without the two of you," Hermione said, betraying the slightest bit of doubt. 

Ron pulled away from her and raised an eyebrow. "…Without us? Mrs. Polyjuice Potion? Mrs. Goblin speaker…?" Ron scoffed.

"I'm not good at the hands on stuff by myself, Ron; I've always had you and Harry there pushing me forward. The idea that I might be spending the next year on a Lord Name basis with Voldemort terrifies me just a little bit."

"Than don't do it," Ron said smiling.

Hermione's eyes took on a distant stare. "If it were only that easy…."

Ron glanced behind him at Dumbledore and Snape who were listening to their conversation and then he pulled Hermione out of Dumbledore's office and onto the staircase outside. "This isn't about your mother's 'vision' is it?"

Hermione's eyes swiftly became guarded. "Of course not, Ron, you know how little I depend on Divination."

Knowing, from previous experience with the subject, that was all he was going to get out of her, Ron nodded and waited for Hermione to go inside the office before he started the stairs to the Gargoyle. 

The next couple of weeks were going to be hard for his friend, and he hoped she realized what she was doing, because once you opened Pandora's Box….

Hermione reentered the Headmaster's office and was met with two grave stares. "There is nothing wrong with being frightened of spending my time in the mouth of hell, alone."

"You would be foolish not to be." Dumbledore said quietly.

"How did you get the sword Miss Granger?" Snape asked suddenly.

"I already told you that I found them at the Ministry before the Death Eaters vanished." She said automatically.

"It was extraordinary when that happened, wasn't it Severus?" Dumbledore said softly. "All of those men, vanishing into thin air leaving only Voldemort. Harry drove him back faster than usual as well. One would almost think that He was affected with what ever had driven the Death Eaters back."

"Hmm," Snape said and they both turned to Hermione, whose expression was completely closed off.

"I think that they just realized they were outnumbered and they retreated…." Hermione said tonelessly.

"You mentioned all of that in your report." Dumbledore reminded her.

"That is because it was true."

Dumbledore dropped the subject but Snape persisted.

"What was it Miss Granger? …A powerful Banishing charm?"

"I maintain that they all disaparated at the same time."

"And they left their leader to deal with the Ministry alone?" Snape asked doubtfully.

"That is what I gathered."

"What was it?" He asked angrily. "You have no right, keeping that sort of useful information to yourself during a time of war."

"I have all the rites in the world, since it was a spell of my own." Hermione replied calmly.

Snape's eyes widened fractionally. "You are just full of surprises." 

"I try," She said shortly before turning to the Headmaster. "I am going to get suitable clothing, as I happened to bring some money with me. Afterwards I would appreciate it if the restricted section was spelled to me and available to for use." Than she turned, opened the door, and walked out of Dumbledore's office.

The Headmaster and Potions Professor of Hogwarts watched her go before turning to look at each other.

"She really doesn't realize how powerful she has become, does she?" Snape asked.

"Of course not, Severus, and she still has a long way to go. Many lesions ahead…." Dumbledore said sadly, almost as though he had already seen her future.

Snape stood slowly, "I will make sure that Miss Granger doesn't get herself killed in Hogsmeade." He eyed the swords warily. "What are you planning to do with those, Albus?"

"I think that Fluffy liked the third floor corridor, don't you?" 

Hermione stepped out of Hogwarts and paused for a moment, letting the sun beat on her face. The warmth spread down her neck and settled inside of her. She was reminded of a time when she was a little girl, helping her father rake leaves on a particularly cold day in autumn. She remembered wishing real hard that the sun would come out from behind the clouds – and surprisingly enough it did. 

She ran through a pile of leaves, shouting for her father to look at the sky. He had scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around in a circle before asking her, _"What is it sweetheart?"_

_She had giggled, "I made the sun come out Daddy. It was cold, so I wished really hard for it to come out – like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz – and the sun came out of nowhere!"_

_"Oh yeah," He had said. "Did you click your heels three times?"_

_She had sighed impatiently, "Of course not Daddy… I'm not wearing a pair of ruby slippers… that doesn't work unless you're wearing ruby slippers."_

_He had kissed her on the nose and sent her off to play in another pile of leaves._

That year when her parents had gotten home from their annual dentists convention, he had been the one to pick Hermione up from her grandparents' house. He had a package with him; they always brought her a present back from their trips, and when she opened it two ruby slippers fell out. She had clicked her heels around the house for months… it had driven her mother mad. But for her father and her it was an on going joke, even after the shoes were too small for her feet.

_"…Daddy?" She would say to get his attention and he would look down on her feet to see if she was wearing the shoes._

_"Yes, Dorothy?" _

_"I don't think we're in __Kansas__ anymore…."_

Now the shoes were in a storage facility somewhere in London… she didn't quite know where. Her grandparent's had packed her parent's things and sold the house for her. One day, she promised herself as she began the hike through Hogwarts grounds and into Hogsmeade; she was going to find that old storage place and go through her parents' things. The time for grieving would come. Though a small part of her as glad that her parents weren't around to see what she was about to do. Hermione Granger was many things, but she was not stupid. She knew that this was going to involve torture and death, but she also knew that she was strong. The years on her own, after Hogwarts, had taught her many things, the main thing being 'tread softly, and carry a big stick'. This was going to take a lot of patience and more than a little trust. Trust, not in Dumbledore or the enemy, but in herself…. She would take more trips down memory lane, one day when it didn't hurt so much.  

One day, when she was done playing the double agent.

For now, she had a world to save – two actually if one believed her mother's vision, which Hermione did.

Her mother had been her confidant for many, many years and Hermione could tell when she was lying, and when she wasn't.

Mrs. Granger had either developed an extraordinary acting talent over night or her mother believed that she had a vision. Either way, the only thing that Hermione could do was to try. She could try to make her mother's vision come true, try to make her mother's memory proud of her. 

_"My girl, strongest of them all, you are going to be the one to show them."_

I will Mum, I will.


	2. Training

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters do not belong to me. They belong to the nice people at Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury and Scholastic. And of course J K Rowling. I don't own any of the rites and I'm not actually clear on whether or not I own the plot.

Archived: Fanfiction.Net 

Summary: Based on something that happened to her, Hermione Granger decides to become a key player in the war against Voldemort. When she crosses over, how will she find the line between undercover and immoral? More importantly, when she finds it, will she like it? HG/DM with mentions of HG/HP.

Author's note: This is rated 'R' for a reason. This story will contain adult themes and language. It is Dark and in a later chapter it will contain a torture scene – though this might change, since this is a work in progress. 

Chapter Two: Training

Living at Hogwarts again was difficult after so many years. Hermione hadn't even known that she had missed it until her head hit the pillow after a long day of shopping. Her room was on the second floor, overlooking the lake; - Dumbledore told her that it had belonged to a pair of married teachers a few years before her time at Hogwarts. Though it was spacey – it gave her a strangely familiar feeling. I was kind of like coming home, and it gave her some comfort after years of trying to find her place. 

Ron and Harry had gone off to the Ministry, Harry to become an Auror and Ron as a Hit Wizard for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. They had both gone straight away after Hogwarts, and were sent to train with the best, or so she was told. They had spent the first two years in training and only this year had either of them been placed on active duty. 

Which she was told, through letters, was very taxing… she didn't doubt it. Voldemort was still running around, trying to gain control of the World, and he was just the major problem. People sometimes forgot that regular crime still went on during wars, and that pick pockets, Dark Arts junkies, and even murderers, who didn't work for Voldemort, were still out there. 

That meant that Harry and Ron had their hands full with work, and while they had time to drop an owl here or there, she hadn't actually seen either of them since they had finished training, and that had only been at a celebratory party. Before that she hadn't seen either of them since Harry broke up with her, on the train home. 

He had meant well, she knew, thinking that he was protecting her. And she was over him, but she still wondered sometimes what might have happened. She had been accepted to the Auror Academy alongside Harry, but she had changed her mind. She wondered if she might have gone through with it if Harry had stayed with her. 

She missed Ron and Harry so much, especially when her parent's died. She stayed at the burrow for at least a month with Ginny and Molly; those had been her darkest days. She had realized then, more than ever, that she couldn't fix everything with research and some well placed magic. It was the most frightening thought that she had ever had, winning over her thoughts when they had attempted to rescue Cho Chang. 

Ron and Harry had been under what the Ministry called incommunicado, so they hadn't found out until the Christmas holidays. That owl had been a sad one where as it should have been joyful. Dark marks had been making their appearances all over England and no one was safe. She remembered hearing about Percy's astonishment that a Perfect had been Petrified during her second year, when she had woken up. Those days had been very much like that, especially when the Minister's family was attacked. No one was safe, unless you were on His side. 

People had figured that one out real quick, and it was what Voldemort was trying for. Two hundred new recruits in one year… and then they had attacked the Ministry. Two hundred and thirty of them invaded at four o'clock in the morning, she saw them apparate from her building. 

She gotten up for a glass of water and from the window in her kitchen on the seventh floor she had seen them coming. She knew then, instinctively, that it was time to try out her spell. So she was dressed in the blink of an eye and she Foo'd to the Ministry's main chambers. 

Then she saw the swords for the second time, and Hermione knew that she had to get her hands on a pair of them. So she waited until the Death Eaters knew that they had the upper hand, and then she fired two stunning spells.

No one had noticed her. 

Then she summoned the swords. She could still remember the feeling of magic and steel when she grabbed them, ending the summoning spell. They had been surprisingly light, and she would find out later that it was a part of the Goblin magic inside that caused it. 

She had waited for Voldemort to appear before she started the spell. 

It had actually been a mix of several spells, without an incantation. It was the Location spell and Banishing Charm - with a twist of her own. She actually wasn't quite sure where the Death Eaters had ended up – that was the one of the mishaps of the spell, she could never be quite sure where the recipients had gone. She had been hoping that it would bounce them into some kind of alternate reality. Then Harry came storming in, hero style, and he dueled with Voldemort, and drove him away. Hermione waited to make sure her friend was alright before she Foo'd home again and hid the swords. Then she dressed in proper wizarding robes and walked down to the Ministry to check out the situation. She had, at the time, been a free lance researcher and the Ministry normally called on her to solve some of their more difficult public mysteries. She had showed up on her own, with the pretense that she had heard the commotion from her apartment. 

The public hadn't heard from the Death Eaters since then. No attacks, no Dark marks… for the first time in five years the Wizarding world seemed bereft of its resident Dark Lord.

Hermione had known then that they were planning something big. 

July 1st was a morning that Hermione believed she would remember forever. You just didn't see the Headmaster, Snape, Harry and Ron dumbfounded, especially not by a rooky.

She had taken Ron's suggestion very seriously and that night she had preformed the Room-sealing spell, which she was certain that none but Dumbledore could break and she had set a few of her own traps. 

So when a green bearded Dumbledore all but collapsed onto her rug she was unsurprised, but gratified. 

"Where are the others, Albus?" Hermione asked as she reversed the Transmogrifian Torture that she had modified to a semi permanent dye. His beard was now only slightly green – it would wear off in a month or two. 

"Ron is cornered by an Acromantula, Harry fell into the Devil's snare – and he relaxed immediately, he is now stuck in a ten foot hole that has been charmed to repel any magic he attempts."

Hermione hid a smile behind her hand and asked neutrally, "What of Snape?"

"He believes that he is confronting a fully grown werewolf." Dumbledore said gravely.

Hermione smiled then, "Good and I expect that all of you were on your way here to give me a special 'wakeup'?"

Dumbledore's eyes flashed in surprise, "You did all of this? You've sent an _Acromantula loose in the school?"_

"…Of course not…. The spider is a very real representation, and it is quite solid but it won't give Ron anything more than a scare."

"What about the werewolf?"

Hermione laughed, "That was actually a Bogart. It owed me a favor and I asked it to hold Snape for as long as he could."

"The Bogart owed you a favor?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Yes… I found him in the restricted section, and I promised not to vanquish him if he would do me a favor." 

The door opened behind them and Snape snarled in her direction. "How clever of you…."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "My mother always said that you should make sure that you won't need to cross a bridge again before you burn it. It's why I still speak with Pansy, every now and then."

"The two of you maintained a friendship?" The headmaster asked.

Hermione snorted. "I wouldn't say that we ever had a friendship. Ever since… Diagon Alley, we came to an agreement. If she needs something I get it for her, and if I need something she gets it for me. It isn't by any means a friendship, but the alliance will help my task run smoother. The Parkinson's are Dark Art practitioners and though Pansy has chosen not to follow in their footsteps, she does have a certain taste for it."

"Won't Miss Parkinson become curious about your sudden interest in the Dark Arts?" Snape asked.

"Every first of the month she extends an invitation for me to visit a Dark club, and every month I refuse. The last three months I have shown more interest than I normally would. When she invites me to come with her on August 1st I am going to say yes." Hermione said confidently.

"Do you have any idea what goes on at a Dark club?" Snape sneered.

"I do." Hermione answered, and continued before Snape could interrogate her further. "If you'll excuse me, I should probably release Harry and Ron. I think I might have angered them instead of making a good impression like I had intended." She said, barely hiding a chuckle at Harry's antics, which could be heard throughout the castle.

"How can you allow this, Albus?" Snape asked once Hermione had left the room to rescue her friends.

Dumbledore looked all of his one hundred and sixty one years. "We are fighting a war, Severus, and Hermione is a logical girl. The information she gathers may very well come between the world and its total destruction."

"The child is barely twenty one! While I'll admit that she has more knowledge than an average witch of her age, she is not ready for what you are about to do." 

 "That is why she came to us. She is a sensible girl and despite your views of her, she does know her limits. Tomorrow is going to be a very different day indeed." Dumbledore said heavily, though his eyes twinkled with something that Snape couldn't place. 

"What's this?" Hermione asked, picking up a tiny plastic device. "It isn't a hearing aid, is it?"

Harry, who had finally gotten over his embarrassment at being caught (it had only taken two days), reached forward and gently took the piece of plastic from Hermione. He motioned for her to move closer to him, and he popped the gadget into her ear. Then he pulled out his wand and cast an invisibility spell on it. Harry took a second one out of his pocket and placed it in his own ear. 

_'Can you hear me?'_

Hermione jumped slightly at the sound of Harry's voice inside of her head. She thought back to him, _'Loud and clear.'_

Aloud she said, "What's the catch?"

Harry smiled and Hermione jumped as she heard his voice inside of her head again.

_'I wonder what she's wearing under those robes. I have to remember to pick up Dragon's blood… tomorrow is -.'_

_'What is going on? Harry? I wonder if that scar really has harmed him.' _Hermione gasped aloud as she realized that Harry heard that last part. "But… I didn't mean… you weren't supposed to hear that last part." She finished lamely. 

Harry removed the piece of plastic from her ear and restored its visibility. "That is the drawback. When we're both wearing them, we hear everything the other person is thinking. That is why they are considered dark." Harry started to explain as he removed the device from his own ear and placed it in his pocket. "Imagine having to hear your own thoughts as well as another person's – it is enough to drive anyone mad."

"Why are you showing it to me?" Hermione asked, confused.

Harry looked sheepish. "I thought that... maybe, when you started to spy that you could wear it –."

Hermione interrupted him. "There is no way that I am putting that thing in my ear again. It is too creepy… you can hear my every thought. There is too much power in that, and what if someone could detect it? Huh? What am I supposed to say then? 'Oh that is just Harry Potter in my head, don't mind him, he's just trying to figure out a way to kill all of you.' It is too dangerous."

"Fine," Harry said moodily. "I just thought that it would be easier for you not to do this alone."

"Alone? Ron is dead, he is worse than dead. I didn't mean that I couldn't do it. I just… got over-emotional. I was thinking about… things… before I came here and.... I'll be fine!" Hermione huffed.

"I know." Harry said, sitting down the table. His eyes gazed over the restricted books, but Hermione could tell that he was trying to form the words. "I'm completely against you going; I want you to know that. It isn't because I think that you can't spy, or that you can't save the world… _because you can_. I just… if you die, I'll kill you! Understood?"

Hermione laughed. "That would be pretty hard, don't you think?"

"I'm serious!" Harry protested.

"Now, Harry, I don't remember giving you permission to impersonate me." A voice called from the door way.

"…Sirius!" Hermione yelled. "How did you get in here? It doesn't even matter! It is so good to see you." She ran forward and threw herself at him. 

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Harry, over Hermione who he was hugging tightly.

"She's over-emotional." Harry said cheekily. 

Hermione ignored him and pulled away from Sirius suddenly. "I should hate you, you know that? One morning you're gone, and there is no note, no one can tell me where you are! It was torture!"

It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow. "One _morning_ you were gone and there was no _note?_ When did this happen?" Harry said, half-jokingly.

Hermione blushed. "I wanted to tell you, but it didn't seem right to mention it in a note… and then he left. It didn't start out like that, Harry, wait."

Harry pushed pass them and out of the restricted section without a word.  

Hermione looked up and Sirius, who was looking after Harry. "I should go after him…." 

Sirius dragged his eyes back onto her. "It's my responsibility. I should never have touched you knowing that –."

Hermione pushed herself away from him. "Why does everyone always have to look after Harry? He is a grown boy, and he broke up with me. Everyone seems to forget that little tiny detail. _He _broke _my heart."_

"Hermione, you don't understand. You don't know everything –."

"Yes, that's right. No one can tell Hermione anything. Poor, Hermione, she can't handle any information. You're just as bad, Sirius! Do you have any idea how worried you had me?"

"About that, Hermione, we have to talk." Sirius said quietly.

Hermione looked at him curiously and then it suddenly hit her. "Oh, no, you didn't, Sirius. You went back to her?" She said furiously. "I know that it's been a year and a half, and I expected you to see other people, lord knows I did, but you went back with _her."_

"Arabella is good for me, we're the same age and –." Sirius said quietly.

"Leave." Hermione said tonelessly.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Leave."

"Hermione, if you'll just listen –."

"LEAVE!" Hermione yelled. "I don't want to look at you."

Sirius closed his eyes painfully and shut the door on his way out.

Hermione rushed forward and locked the door before collapsing in front of it. 'I will not cry, I will not cry, I won't cry, I will not cry.'

Hermione felt the tears run down her cheek, one after another, mocking her. _'What did we tell you about letting another person inside? We said he'd break your heart.'_

"This time was supposed to be different."

_'Oh, sweetie, it's never different.  It goes great. You spend time together, feelings grow deeper, and one day, without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops, And it feels like the whole world's made for you two, and you two alone, until the day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who's now a broken, hollow, mockery of the human condition.'_

"Oh this is ridiculous!" Hermione said, wiping the tears from her face viciously. "I have work to do, the world to save, and I do not have time to take a trip down memory lane. Memory lane is closed."

_The wind was beating against her bedroom window, begging her to open it. An owl tapped at the kitchen window, asking for entrance. She ignored it all, nothing mattered. Her parent's were dead. They were gone, not coming back, six feet under. Tomorrow she was supposed to go over their house for brunch, but they wouldn't be there. Crookshanks was purring at her feet, rubbing against her leg, trying to get her attention. The front door slammed open. She wondered what Harry was doing -._

_Wait._

_The front door slammed open?_

_She rushed out of the bedroom with her wand grasped tightly in her hand. She screamed at what was waiting for her. _

_A dementor, a gleaming black hooded monster, waiting to suck out her soul._

"I'm sorry Hermione, but it isn't going to work."

_Harry, no, please!_

"Are you Ms. Hermione Granger? I'm afraid I have some bad news; there has been an accident…."

_Mom, Dad!_

"Neville Longbottom has been captured, Headmaster."

_No, not Neville…._

_Hermione's wand fell to the floor with a loud clang that she didn't notice. A part of her could still feel the dementor approaching, coming onto her, lifting its hood. _

_"Expecto Patronum!" _

_The cold feeling was going away. The voices began to retreat. She felt a piece of chocolate forced into her mouth, which she instinctively chewed on. Warmth filled her, from head to toe. She opened her eyes._

_The door was shut and the dementor was gone. _

_Sirius Black was kneeling in front of her. _

_"Are you alright? I've been tracking that bugger for days, finally got it cornered and it brings me here! Do you have any dark enemies…? I can't figure out why it would know to come here."_

_"…Sirius?" Hermione asked tearfully._

_"Yeah?"___

_"My parent's are dead." _

_Hermione collapsed into tears. _

_Sirius held her and she remembered thinking for the first time since the accident, since she left the burrow, that maybe she could handle it. That maybe, one day, she could stop crying._

_Then the door burst open and hit her in the back._

Hermione was ripped away from her memories by a sudden, sharp feeling against her spine. It took her a few moments to realize that it hadn't ended that way, and therefore someone was trying to get inside of the room. 

She pulled herself off of the ground and ran over to her books, with her back to the door. She discreetly wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Granger, have you forgotten about our lesson?" 

Hermione groaned inwardly. Yes, she had forgotten, and no, she didn't want to spend anytime with Snape right now, especially not when her eyes were probably very red and puffy. "Of course not, I was just getting things together."

"Fine then we'll start with beginners –."

Hermione swirled around. "You know, as well as I do, Snape, that I finished beginners Dark Arts for my Seventh year Honors project. It isn't as though I would have forgotten all that I've learned since then."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "– spy skills. Reacting to a rise will only get you dead, Granger. Crying also shows a sign of immense weakness." 

Hermione glared angrily. "I realize that."

"I suppose it will be easier for you without Black and Potter around. They do seem to cloud your judgment. What was it this time, lovers spat?"

"It's none of your business."

Before Hermione realized that Snape had gone for his wand, he had already said: "Imperio."

_Tell me why you are crying. _

Everything was strange and misty, but if she just followed that voice….

_Go on, tell me._

All she had to do was tell this nice man why she was crying, it was so easy. 

"No."

_You refuse?_

Hermione suddenly snapped out of it. "Yes I refuse. You know, it isn't very polite to cast unforgiveables on someone."

She thought she saw surprise flicker in Snape's eyes but Hermione figured it must have been the light because the next second he was still the same old Snape. 

"First piece of advice: Get rid of Potter and Black if you can't control your impulses around them." Then he swept out of the room.

Hermione, as much as she'd rather not, agreed with Snape partly. Harry and Sirius affected her judgment and if she wanted to spy _nothing could affect her judgment._

 "I am not working with her, Albus!" Hermione cried indignantly.

"You aren't exactly peaches and cream, yourself sweetheart." Arabella sneered.

"What is the problem, ladies?" Dumbledore asked.

"The problem! The problem is that she tried to kill me." Hermione said sneering in Arabella's direction.

"Now, Hermione, wasn't that years ago?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"_I_ tried to kill _you? You tried to kill me first." _

"Yeah, well, you tried to kill Harry!"

"That was a very big misunderstanding." Arabella huffed.

"What didn't you understand about it? I understood, didn't you understand, Albus?" Hermione said roughly.

"Well, Harry wasn't really himself." Dumbledore began.

"He was using Polyjuice potion! How was I to know that he wasn't Lucius Malfoy?" Arabella yelled.

"Yes, well, there was a perfectly explainable reason for that. Anyway, what reasons did you have for killing Lucius Malfoy? Besides having met the man, that is. It isn't like Harry attacked you or anything." 

"Lucius Malfoy didn't belong on school grounds." Arabella said tightly.

"Oh, yeah, well, I think there are a few squirrels outside that probably don't belong on the grounds, why don't you go kill them?" Hermione said haughtily.

"I refuse to work with her, Albus." Hermione and Arabella yelled together.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Dumbledore commanded.

They took their seats in front of his desk without looking at each other.

Hermione looked around the room waiting for Dumbledore to break the awkward silence. She smiled uncertainly at Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, and thought she saw the sorting hat wink at her before anyone spoke.

"The two of you have certainly tried my patience over the years, but enough is enough. Tomorrow is a new day and the both of you," here Dumbledore sent a quelling look in Arabella's direction, "Will feel quite different toward each other." 

Something seemed to pass between Arabella and Albus, but Hermione, who was too busy feeling confused, missed it. 'What exactly did Dumbledore mean, "Over the years"? She hadn't seen Arabella since the whole debacle in fifth year.

"I'll leave you to it then, Albus." Arabella said sounding resigned. She got up and walked to the door, once she reached it though, she seemed to change her mind. Arabella turned back to Hermione and looked at her with almost kind eyes.

"Don't be so quick to give away your heart." Then she left without another word.

Hermione felt a renewed sort of anger. 'How dare that little bitch say that about Sirius?"

"Hermione," Dumbledore said gently, bringing her out of a wonderful fantasy in which she force fed Arabella Basilisk poison.

"Yes Albus?" 

"I realize that you wanted this to be on your terms, but you must understand that time is a fickle thing. You must do this, because you already have." Dumbledore said sagely.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mother was correct, Hermione, you will save the world."

"What –." Hermione started to say but was interrupted by a sudden burst of green light. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again Dumbledore was looking at her curiously. "I'm sorry… I must have blacked out for a moment."

"Quite understandable child…. When do you come from?" 

Hermione blinked. "When do I come from?"

"Yes, yes, the year, what year is it?" 

"2001." Hermione said, confused by the abrupt change of subject.

"Ah, yes, I was told you were coming."

"Albus? What is going on?"

"Ah, yes, I should explain. The year, my child is 1979."

"No, it isn't."

"I assure you, it is." A male voice said quietly from the corner of Dumbledore's office.

Hermione swiveled around in her chair and stared transfixed at the sight before her. 

Draco Malfoy was leaning against Dumbledore's cabinet looking both pleased and serious. 

This would have been fine with Hermione. It didn't matter that Malfoy hadn't been there a moment ago, or that his presence would have been detected at Hogwarts. That didn't bother her at all, no the thing that disturbed her was that Draco Malfoy had been dead for three years.

She had examined the body herself.

Author's note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I am sorry for the wait, and hopefully the next chapter will be out much sooner. For some reason I had a hell of a time trying to write the middle of this chapter. Anything that I wrote, I hated – it was a bad few days and anymore of it might have broken the delete button on my keyboard! 

_'It goes great. You spend time together, feelings grow deeper, and one day, without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops, And it feels like the whole world's made for you two, and you two alone, until the day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who's now a broken, hollow, mockery of the human condition.' Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 4._

Thanks to:

Material Girl, Crazy-Peanut-Chick, milehigh, HarryPotterWanter, Irony, Blanche Dubois, Spazy-Sange, Lisa.F, FreAkOnALeaSh.


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